Welcome To the Masquerade
by Blood-lust2
Summary: Faith returns but was the Council comes to help a secret is revealed.
1. Awake, Once Again

Disclaimer: Joss Wedon is GOD and I would never steal any of his characters so really none of these are mine, I'm just borrowing. PM me if you have any concerns.  
  
My Fic takes place before and a little during the episode "Family":  
  
Willow snuggled up to Tara; she guessed it was about two o'clock in the morning. She closed her heavy eyelids before dozing back off to sleep. Tara sat awake though. She had a terrible nightmare, her father and brother were chasing her with a net and calling after her: 'MONSTER! DEMON! Get it!' It wasn't the dream itself that bothered her, what made her feel uneasy was that her own father had called her an 'it'. She thought about waking Willow up, right then and there. But telling her in the middle of the night like that? She might come off as, well, crazy. And the last thing she wanted was for Willow not to like her anymore. She kept her going. She is the one that Tara got up for in the morning. Willow had shown her a whole new side to herself, a side she was proud of. Thoughts of Willow finally put her back to sleep. She awoke the next morning to her alarm clock beeping in her ear.  
  
"Morin' sleepy head." Willow said from the other side of the bed  
  
"Hey there...how long have you been up?"  
  
"Oh, you know, an hour...or two. But now you're up so we can go get some munchies."  
  
"Willow? There's s-somthing I need to t-tell you, alright?" Tara asked shakily, she always stuttered when she had to say something she didn't want to.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I'm...I-I am....a.....really hungry, c-can we go?" she heard the words come out of her mouth but could barely believe it. She had lied again. First with the demonic activity spell and now this. What was she doing! She loved Willow and with every lie she just hurt her more.  
  
"Sure! Lets get dressed and we'll go out someplace." Willow replied with a smile.  
  
-Later that day...-  
  
*I will tell her! I will. No more lies or hiding potions under the bed or- or nothing! Just say:' Willow I'm a demon.' No! It is to, straight and to the point. I need to break it softly, like: 'Willow I need to tell you something, I'm part demon and on my 20th birthday I'm going to turn into that part.' That seems okay, except for the Willow screaming and running away in horror part! UGH, how will I tell her with out breaking her heart? * 


	2. A Magickal Intervention

DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon is GOD and I'm not stealing, I'm borrowing. And you all know the rest.  
  
FEEDBACK: Yes, Please. I need to know if you like it or not. You can email me at thepinkpanther@vink.org  
  
RATING: Pretty much G-PG but if you have a problem email me.  
  
FORESHADOWING: This is before Faith wakes up from her coma. Just so you know, if some things are little off, I claim "artistic license" (LOL).  
  
***  
  
1 Chapter 1: Awake, Once Again  
  
*yawn* Tara sat up and threw the covers off herself. She walked to the bathroom and washed up, brushed her teeth and took a shower. Then she made her way back to her room. Willow was up now. She was writing in her diary.  
  
"Baby, what are you having for breakfast? You know me, writing down food and what not." the redhead asked from the bed.  
  
"I'm not sure. Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and you can write it down after I finish? Is that okay with you?"  
  
"See you always know what's best for me! What would I do with out you?"  
  
"Well your diary wouldn't be as full, that's for sure." the two witches laughed at the comment. They walked down to the busy cafeteria and both got their food. Then found an empty, yet not so clean, table.  
  
"Ewww! Look at the mess the last people made!" Willow said in disgust  
  
"We can fix that." Tara said, they both raised their arms and with a swish the table was spotless.  
  
"Much better." Willow said with pride. Tara nodded her head in approval. They sat down and started to eat. Tara had a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and a glass of OJ. Willow had scrambled eggs and a small cup of milk.  
  
"What's your day like today...busy, boring? I mean it's Saturday. I don't have any classes. My Algebra teacher got the flu and so his class was canceled." the redhead said taking a bite of her eggs  
  
"Oh, well, I don't have anything either. So what do you wanna do?"  
  
"Maybe we should go back upstairs, relax a little." she joked. Tara laughed in between gulps of juice. They just hung out down there for a bit. They did end up going upstairs again to grab some books and herbs for their trip to the Magic Box. They took their own stuff because Anya got huffy if Willow or Tara borrowed herbs and stuff with out paying for them. They walked and talked, and walked and talked, it was a long walk. When they arrived the bell on the door of the shop signaled that they had arrived.  
  
"Hey Will! And...you must be Tara, right?" Buffy asked  
  
"Yes, t-that's me. N-nice to meet y-you." she normally stuttered around people she didn't know. Willow had told her a lot about all of them but she had never met them face-to-face. They were a little bit different than she had expected. She had expected Giles to be a lot older and Xander to be taller and Anya…she already knew Anya from her many visits to the magic shop. Buffy she had seen at Willow's dorm. But they had never talked or anything up until now.  
  
"So Tara, how are you. Willow has told us about you, never what you looked like though." Xander said shooting Willow a glare.  
  
"I-I'm fine, thank you. X-Xander. Willow h-has told me about y-you all too." She said lowering her gaze down to the floor. But then the phone rang. Buffy got up from her seat and grabbed it.  
  
"Hello, Magic Box…this is Buffy…Oh my…thank you for calling though." She hung up with a grim expression  
  
"Buffy, what is it?" Xander asked worriedly  
  
"It's Faith." She said, and his eye gave a little twitch "She's awake. She left the hospital sometime last night. She could be anywh-" she stopped mid- sentence because the bell rang again and a girl, brown hair, brown eyes, came walking into the shop. Xander gave a little scream and Willow pulled Tara back as she took a step back herself.  
  
"Who is that?" The blonde witch whispered into Willow's ear  
  
"Faith" 


End file.
